Prosecuting, John Farmer told jurors at Ipswich Crown Court that the service, charged at hundreds of pounds per day, was also sometimes billed weeks in advance, before it could be known what patients’ needs would be.

The jury was told that Mark Deveney, a psychiatric nurse who selected people for whom extra care was to be charged, turned whistleblower after being sacked.

Mr Farmer said that PCTs for York and Peterborough were billed for extra care during the period between February 2004 and September 2006, as well as health trusts for Norwich and Norfolk.

Adam James

Adam James is currently a Director at SPRINGup PR and photojournalist at Ajamesphotos. Since the 1990s he has written for titles such as the Guardian, Independent, Mail, Sunday Telegraph and New Statesman, and was named the Journalist of the Year 2001.

PsychMinded strives to be the leading UK-based publisher providing information and other online services, including job vacancies , for all who work in psychology, psychiatry and mental health.
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